This article is from page 8 of the 2011-09-27 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 8 JPG
PRIMARY schools across Clare are now among the most overcrowded in Europe, damning statistics secured by The Clare People this week have revealed.
Department of Education figures relating to the pupil-teacher ratio in Clare and given to The Clare People by the Irish National Teachers Organisation this week have shown that the majority of primary pupils in the county are in classes greater than the EU average.
Figures have revealed that 17 per cent of Clare schools have 20 or less pupils; 63 per cent with between 20 and 29 pupils, with 20 per cent of schools with above 30 pupils.
“The EU average is 20 and the way you look at that is that in county Clare you have 83 per cent of pupils in classes that are above EU average,” said Clare INTO chief Sean McMahon.
“It’s a fairly shocking statistic that in 2011 one in five primary students in Clare are in a class of 30 or more, particularly when you take the geography of Clare into consideration. You have 124 schools in Clare and along the western seaboard you have a lot of relatively small schools, so that statistically implies that some schools have very large classes,” Mr McMahon added.
Meanwhile, INTO general secretary Sheila Nunan described the figures as “shocking” and represent “a wake-up call for the parents of Clare’s 13,000 primary school pupils in advance of the 2011 budget”.
“What we’re concerned and worried about is that the upcoming Budget is going to exacerbate things even more,” said Mr McMahon. “We are being told we are in fiscal situation where very little can be done, but when the Celtic Tiger was roaring among us very little was done for primary education.
“It’s wrong that children in primary school would pay the price for fiscal recitude. We are saying to the Minister for Education, not only do we not want class sizes increased, we want them reduced. We are the second highest in Europe when it comes to class sizes. The problems with the economy haven’t been created by primary school pupils. I fail to see why they should be the ones paying for it,” he added.